How to watch iPlayer on your TV from outside of the UK
and other UK streaming services too
I wanted to prefix this article to say that this is for informational purposes only. If you are accessing the BBC Iplayer you need to have a TV license and accessing it outside of the UK may not be entirely compliant with their terms and conditions. I put this together as I wanted to prove that it was possible, but you can use this at your own risk
The Problem
I left the UK 7 years ago and whilst I do miss friends and family, I also miss British TV. The humor and quality of the show is very different to that of the content here in the US. This Christmas I decided that I wanted to watch a few shows and wanted to see them on my tv. Using a decent VPN provider I have been able to connect to UK services like iPlayer and All 4 on my laptop or IOS devices.
Initially I tried streaming this content to my TV using Apple TV, but the quality was not good enough. The audio would skip and the frame rate just wasn’t good enough. It then dawned on me that if I could connect a streaming device to my network but somehow have that device connected to a UK VPN then I’d be able to get British content. After some trial and error I came up with a solution.
The Solution
To make this work, I created a seperate network that connected to my existing network. The new network used a router that supports Open VPN. This meant that I would be able to make a connection to the UK using the router and any devices that connected would think they were in the UK. To make this happen I used:
GL.iNet GL-AR150 Travel Router with VPN
A premium VPN Account that supports regional content and Open VPN*
Implementation
Router Config
I plugged in the WAN port of the travel router to a free LAN port on my router and then connected to the default wifi on the travel router. I went through the wizard using a web browser and configured the travel router in router mode and was able to browse the internet straight away.
I then went to the VPN Client section and uploaded my Open VPN Conviguration File. I selected the profile, entered my credentials for the VPN and connected straight away.
Roku Account
Connected to the wifi of the travel router I used my laptop to create a new Roku account with a UK address. It asked me for payment information, but allowed me to use Paypal so a UK credit card was not needed. I made a note of the username and password and then went on to connect my Roku Express to the TV.
Roku Express
I plugged this into a spare HDMI on my TV and then went through the setup process. When asked for a network connected this to the travel router wifi and I logged in using the newly made UK credentials. Once everything was setup I was presented with a list of UK streaming apps on the TV.
Additional StreamingAccounts
To use the UK services such as iPlayer, All 4 and ITV player you will need an account. The accounts are free an need to be tied to a UK address. To set them up if you don’t have them, connect a device to the Travel router and then setup an account at
iPlayer — https://account.bbc.com/
All 4 — https://www.channel4.com/register
ITV Player — https://www.itv.com/hub/user/signup
The Experience
The App interfaces were a lot slower than when I was in the UK, but the services did work. The router only has a throughput of 150mb/s so I do wonder if the experience would be better with a better router, but I’ll test that at a later date. From the apps I tested, this was my experience:
BBC iPlayer
Menu browsing was slow and loading the content took longer than in the UK. Picture and sound quality was great, no issues at all.
All 4
The default menus timed out and gave an error, which made me wonder if there was just too much latency with the request. The search worked and I was able to watch programs with no issues at all. I was also able to add content to my favorites.
ITV Player
This service worked fine with no issues at all
Conclusion
I’m going to try this with a better router to see if the experience is improved, but wanted to share this with anyone else who is interested. I now have the ability to watch programs from back home on my TV which is something I miss! If you have any questions on setting this up or any feedback please let me know.
When setting up the travel router I’d also highly recommend changing the SSID and password of the wireless network.
As stated at the beginning of the article this is entirely for informational purposes only!
*If you really don’t know who to use then message me and I can recommend a few companies
